It was the longest and most punishing stage of the event so far – 1,400 nautical miles from Portsmouth, down the English Channel, past Biscay, through Gibraltar and into the shifting breezes of the Mediterranean – yet Meilhat and his sailors managed the leg with a tactical poise that has now firmly stamped Biotherm as the benchmark team of this race. The numbers tell their own story: 16 points collected in total on this leg alone.